An analysis of the seemingly lacking moments and distance between Vincenzo and Cha Young in the last two episodes and their feelings for each other
I think the whole Vincenzo parting for a while plot was explicitly made for Vincenzo to realize his feelings for both cha young and the newfound family in Korea. I think it revolves around the parallel of him saying he will leave Korea as he has no attachment in this country but when he actually has to do it, even temporarily, he realized the attachment he has and couldn’t leave.
And I have been wondering what would it take for Vincenzo to actually acknowledge his feelings to cha young, like for his character, he won’t randomly confess, we know he deems himself to be undeserving of love because of the deeds he has done (the infamous deleted scene which is actually important for this part of character development)...
Next, the kiss scene was just a chance he(they) took because well they had the perfect opportunity and it was required. Post that, they both probably know how much they long each other but are suppressing the feelings because of all the bigger and important issues happening. After this, Vincenzo losing his mom is another major development that has actually made the love line even more of a not-required accessory for him at the moment. It has also been a trigger that made him descend into pure mafia-like evil, and deepened the conflicts in their minds, i.e, him thinking love is even more unnecessary for him and cha young questioning his morals and her love for him... we could see she wasn’t totally comfortable with killing the crystal ball guy. And this is also probably the reason for Vincenzo going solo and cha young getting reduced to a side character (I hate it but that is what is required in the plot).
So coming back to my main point of what would it take for Vincenzo to realize his feelings and act on them is their parting (and he couldn’t take it and came back immediately...), now from the preview cha young being in danger might be the next trigger that might push him to confront his feelings directly BUT, the resolution of his conflict of whether he deserves the love or not would be the ultimate decider. And from cha young’s side, it is yet to be seen if she can accept the entire past and baggage that comes along with Vincenzo... she still has her morals(that she learned from her father) and second thoughts of killing people and is definitely in a conflict if she should hop on the real mafia train.. again from the preview it looks like she witnessing another death might give her the push to completely go evil and this same process might let her accept Vincenzo completely.
Sooooo we need the next two episodes to address this properly before jumping into the confession scene that is being demanded. After this analysis, I think everything in the last two episodes makes sense, so the seeming distance between them and the handshake, not a hug, shows they are not ready for the commitment yet (because of all the reasons mentioned above) but don’t want to lose their friendship. But him coming back is just cementing that their relationship is more than friendship but neither is ready to take the plunge. Them confessing without showing the resolution of these conflicts would actually be out of character.
I'm actually satisfied with this writing and take back my initial thoughts of this episode under-delivering.